Sony and Google show off new Google TV box at Palo Alto, CA event

Android has skyrocketed and now owns most of the mobile market, but Google has been having a much harder time trying to boost Google TV’s success. This is mostly because the platform is fairly new, and still considered beta, even though Google TV 2.0 has brought major improvements. But the Search Giant is not giving up, and is still trying to improve Google TV.

Sony and the Google TV team have put together a meetup in Palo Alto, CA. This event is meant to be an introduction to the next-generation of Sony Google TV products, as well as a discussion about the platform. A friend of Phandroid is at the event, so we have some great content for you.

The discussion panel mostly focused on the nature and future of Google TV (which the representatives couldn’t say much about), as well as Sony’s large interaction with it. And it seems such will continue to be the case, as the highlight of the event was a non-working prototype of a new Sony set top. The new Google TV box comes with a new-generation remote, which is much different compared to the one we have seen from Sony in the past.

Not much is known about this new device’s specs, but we were able to see how it looks. The new Sony remote is a double sided device with a keyboard on one side and a track pad and other buttons in the other. This comes along with a simple black set top box that will bring the Google experience to any TV. Sony is stating that it will be released in the summer, so we will definitely be hearing more about it at Google I/O.

No information about pricing and specs was provided, so we will have to wait until later for more details. For now, these images and video are simply a tease about what is to come. So if you have been waiting for a Google TV device with upgraded specs, this might be the one. Let’s sit tight and see what Sony and Google have for us!

You can go ahead and watch the event’s Hangout on Air for more details. We also have some more images and videos of the device, so check them out! And don’t forget to hit the comments with your opinions. Do you think you will be signing up for this one? Or is Google TV still not ripe enough for you? More importantly, will you go with the competition now that Sony is not the only Google TV player in the block?

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Still no DVD feature? Ugh. I realize they think this streaming thing is going to work, but it’s not. Put a SSD in there, make it affordable and call it a day. The thing will fly off the shelves.

Montisaquadeis

For me there’s no need for a large SSD in the set top box as long as it has DLNA support as I run a DLNA server here at home that streams my content through out the house and allows me to watch my videos on multiple devices so yeah I can see the streaming thing going places as long as you are streaming the content you own through out your own network the big players can not touch you.

http://twitter.com/blundell_apps Blundell

Andrew the average pleb isn’t going to do that. SSD needed to compete with Sky+

ddh819

it has usb ports, should be able to connect a drive that way.

Taha Sheikh

Much better remote than the last version

skynet11

As long as the Big Four networks and Hulu are blocking Google TV, the platform will always be crippled. It will never matter how powerful the hardware is or how intuitive and functional the Android user interface is. As long as it’s little more than a Netflix and YouTube box, it’ll always be a non-starter.

All that matters to me is that is has Flash Player, you can watch anything you watch on TV on the net, even though there are some networks and Hulu blocking GTV there are other sites that see you fave shows i.e. The Walking Dead. The remote looks pretty cool too.

InspectorGadget80

If they add GOOGLE TV to the PS3 I’ll buy one also

Phil Huckeby

No OTA tuner, no EPG, and no DVR = FAIL
Didn’t Windows Media Center come out in 2004? Holy crap that was 8 years ago. I’m starting to think Google is a Hollywood pandering chicken shit.

There is no relative sizing on the size of the TV remote you could have filmed it with your phone sitting next to it or something. Also why don’t they just build a TV with this built in, just like how digital boxes are now built into a tele. Nobody wants extra clutter.

ddh819

there’s a picture of one of the sony guys holding the gtv box, then there’s a pic of the remote next to the box, that should give you an idea of the size of the remote.